Burial apparatus



(No Model.)

'I'. MARTIN.

BURIAL APPARATUS. No. 529,456. Patented Nov. 2 0, 1894.

,fag-1- WWW/A 5NTTnn STnTns vPATnNT @Titteng TAYLOR MARTIN, OF FAIRMONT, IVEST VIRGINIA- BURIAL. APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 529,456, dated November 20, 1894.

Application tiled July l1, 1894-..

To all whom t Ntcty concern:

Be it known that I, TAYLOR MARTIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fairmont, in the county of Marion and State of West Virginia, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in Burial Apparatus; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in couplings for straps which are used in connection with devices for lowering caskets into graves by which, when the casket reaches the bottom of the grave, or the rough box in which it is placed, the straps for lowering the coffin, may be readily detached by means of a'novel coupling which holds the two ends of the straps by means of a pin which is released from its engaging relation, as it comes in contact with the bottom 0f the rough box, thus allowing the ends of the straps to separate, and by the provision of coiled springs actuating shafts carrying pulleys about which the lowering straps are wound, the said straps are wound up under the tension of the springs. For regulating the speed at which the pulleys revolve I provide a suitable friction wheel and foot lever of well known construction having connection through the medium of geared wheels, with the shafts carrying the springs and the pulleys.

To these ends and to such others as the invention may pertain, the same consists further in the novel construction, combination and adaptation of the parts as will be hereinafter more fully described and then specifically defined in the appended claim.

I clearly illustrate my invention in the accompanying drawings, which with the letters of reference marked thereon form a part of this specification, and in which drawings similar letters of reference indicate likeV parts .throughout the several views, in which- Figure l, is a perspective view of my im- Serial No. 517,234. (No model.)

proved casket lowering apparatus; Fig. i, a detail view of the portion of the shaft carrying a spring, and Fig. 3 `is a side elevation of the friction brake. Fig. 1l, is au enlarged detail View of the coupling and pin, for holding the two ends of the straps. Fig. 5, is a detail view of the parts uncoupled.

Reference now being had to the details of the drawings by letter, A designates the framework which is supposed to surround the border of a grave, and to support the shafts for manipulating the straps. Mounted on the upright posts B, at the corners of the said frame work are the shafts C, C, having the pulleys D, upon Which the straps are adapted to wind. These shafts may be made either of iron, brass or any suitable material7 and are hollow a sufiicientdistauce from one end to receive the bearing pins or rods E, which are securely held to the upright posts, and are provided with the washers @,which register with the openings iu the ends of the said shafts. Secured t0 the shaft at the poiutf is one end of the coiled spring F, which surrounds and has its other end secured to the pin or rod E at a point e. By this construction, it will be readily seen that as the shaft carrying the pulleys is revolved, the spring becomes wound up, as would bethe case while lowering the casket into a grave by means of the straps wound upon the pulleys D, and When the straps are uncoupled, the tension 0f the springs Willquickly wind up the straps.

For regulating the speed at which it is desired to have the straps wind up, I provide the friction Wheel G- which is keyed to or integral with the shaft g journaled to the shaft K. About the circumference of the wheel G is the friction band L, having one end secured to the end of the frame work, the other attached to the foot lever M. O, O, are beveled geared wheels keyed to the shaft g and are designed to mesh with the beveled Wheels Q, keyed to the shafts C.

The couplings for detachably securing the ends of the straps, are composed of the two pieces Rand S, havingtheapertures'r through which the end of the strap is passed and fastened. The opposite ends of the plates R are beveled as seen at r', and shoulders R2 formed IOC against which the edges of the recessed portion S are designed to abut when the two parts R and S are brought together and coupled.

T is an elongated slot in the beveled portion R, and V is a substantially square perforation through one face of the plate S, and V is an elongated slot in its other face.

W is the coupling pin provided with the loop or hooked portion w, and the said pin is adapted to hold the two parts R and S in a locked relation by inserting the same into the Square aperture until the hooked portion w engages over the narrow strip t ot the plate R, the long extended portion of the pin passing through the aperture V', and reaching down a suitable distance below the surface of the plate so that when the couplings are held together by the pins and the casket lowered into the grave, when the end of the eX- tended portion of the pin comes in contact with the bottom of the rough boX, the pin will be raised snfciently to allow the parts of the couplings to become disengaged, at which moment, the straps will be caused to wind up through the action of the springs carried in the shafts C, which have been wound up by the descending of the casket.

By the use of the friction wheel, the straps` may be wound up gradually.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim to be new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a burial apparatus, the two straps, cornbined with couplings R and S connected to their inner ends, and the L-shaped locking bolt or pin W, the coupling R having a perforated tongue on itsinner end, and the coupling S a recess in its inner end to receive the tongue, an opening V through which the lower end of the locking pin is passed so as to project down below the plane ot' the coupling, and an opening V extending downV through only the upper portion or jaw of recess, so that the lower part or jaw forms a stop to the movement of the pin and prevents it from dropping through, substantially as shownand described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence ot two witnesses.

TAYLOR MARTIN.

Vitnesses:

N. C. COCHRAN, A. S. HAYDEN. 

